History Main / RainOfArrows

* ''FateStayNight'': -Strangely for a supposedly bow using class, the Archers don't actually tend to do stuff like this much. [[spoiler: Gilgamesh on the other hand, uses historic weapons of mass destruction as arrows because he has so many of them and doesn't see a need to actually use them properly. Hence, why his class is Archer.]]

* ''TotalWar'' - Easily done in any of the games in the series. Archers tend to come in companies of around 60-100 that rain arrows down on other companies. Their effectiveness depends on the game, how tight the enemy formation is, the distance, the relative elevation, and good the archers are in relation to the enemy unit. In some games and situations, archers are extremely effective; in others, they're considerably nerfed.

[[folder:Film]]

* The movie ''[[Film/ThreeHundred 300]]'' does this twice. The first time is a case of ineffective AnnoyingArrows. The second time is directed primarily at a single, extremely tough individual.

* The Battle of Gaugamela in the film '''Alexander''' involves a veritable rain of Persian arrows on the advancing Macedonian phalanx.

* The otherwise average Michael Crichton movie ''Timeline'' was worth the price of admission for these words: ''[[ArrowsOnFire "Fire the Night Arrows!"]]''

* In ''RedCliff'', Zhuge Liang (TheStrategist and TheChessmaster) manipulates an opposing army into firing a Rain of Arrows at a fleet of decoy ships filled with straw, in order to meet a challenge to produce 100,000 arrows for his side within three days - the arrows were used, but still good.

* ''HenryV'' - The 1944 version (Olivier one) has a rather pretty one of these during the Battle of Agincourt. The 1989 version (the Branagh one) was not so pretty.

* ''{{Gladiator}}'' - The opening battle.

* This happens in ''[[Film/TheMummyTrilogy The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor]]''. However, since it's being used on an undead army, it was only dangerous to the two humans fighting with them, and they took cover.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'':
** Both featured and subverted; Chorh-Gom prison has hundreds of ballistae lining the ledges and battlements, each capable of firing ''frickin' enormous, spear-like arrows''...but [[{{Badass}} Tai Lung]] not only uses these to break open his manacles, he's able to toss them right back at the guards, then kick a volley to stab into the rocky walls, providing him with a way to ascend out of the pit.
** So the RainOfArrows starts off as a cool motif for the good guys, only to be snatched away and showing off the bad guy's CrowningMomentOfAwesome instead.
** Similarly, the rhinos also send down an eye-popping hail of ArrowsOnFire, only to have Tai Lung avoid these too by dodging underneath the only protection available, the wooden elevator.
* Done in Ralph Bakshi's ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings'', when the orcs lay siege to Helm's Deep. The hail of arrows goes on for a good twenty seconds, at least.
* ''SamuraiJack'', in the episode with the well and three jackal archers. Though only three, each was capable of rapid firing dozens of arrows per second. The three were able to annihilate an entire army in mere minutes. Furthermore, they were all blind, and tracking their opponents on sound alone. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Ownage commenced on that mechanical army.]]

''"[[BadassBoast So much the better, we shall fight in the shade.]]"''

* In ''FinalFantasyVI'', Edgar's first "tool" is a ''fully automatic crossbow'', which pelts every enemy with a generous helping of arrows.

* In ''DissidiaFinalFantasy'' Ultimecia has the attack "Knight's Arrow", where she summons a multitude of (stylized, magical) arrowheads to shower the enemy. Depending on input, they either swarm the enemy right away, or hang in the air and aim, delaying the attack. She also uses these arrows during her [[LimitBreak EX Burst]]/

** [[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny Nanaly Fletch]] and [[VideoGame/TalesOfHearts Hisui Hearts]] both have similar techniques with their bows.

* The Roman legions applied a variant with their ''pila'' (specially made Roman javelins with high piercing power): right before entering in contact with the enemy army, the legionnaires shot two javelins each, hitting the enemy lines with a brief but intense barrage of javelins who, upon piercing the shields of whoever managed to raise the protection, would break in such a way to not be removable in the heat of the battle, unbalancing the shield (assuming the enemy had not been killed when the javelin pierced it) and preventing it to be thrown back at the Romans.

** Continuing the flavor text trend, the [[HordesFromTheEast Mardu Horde]] exhibits great pride in pulling this off with [[EnergyBow lightning arrows]] [[HorseArcher from horseback]].

* ''{{Persona 3}}'' and ''[[{{Persona4}} 4]]'' have this as a physical skill.

Up the scale a bit. You have a firing line of armed mooks; again, you'll see the gun smoke but not the bullets. Being cooler collectively than individually, a group (or a single!) archer can cause a rain of arrows to descend upon their foes like DeathFromAbove. Add in some ArrowsOnFire for extra burny goodness. By definition, the RainOfArrows trope is mutually exclusive with NoArcInArchery.

Compare MacrossMissileMassacre, MoreDakka and FlechetteStorm; see DeathInAllDirections.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' - The fourth edition makes rangers the dedicated archer and multiple-attacks-per-turn class, giving them multiple powers to help them embody this trope if they so choose as they advance in level. At ''seriously'' high levels, they can get things like Hail of Arrows -- usable once per encounter and automatically targeting each enemy in range.
* In {{Pathfinder}}, there are feats one can take to ensure a rain of arrows (so long as you have the ammunition, of course).
* ''{{Exalted}}'' - "Rain of Feathered Death" is a Charm allowing a character to replicate this Trope. All by themselves. Because they're just that [[RuleOfCool awesome]].

* The ''MythBusters'' constructed and fired a replica hwatcha (see the description below under Real Life) to test its reputation. It stood up to it.

* In the unit-to-unit turn-based combat sections of SagaFrontier2, having an archery unit next to your main attacking unit unleashes a hail of arrows before either side can do anything. (And the enemy can do this to you as well.)

* The ''{{Disgaea}}'' series typically involves a rain of arrows in at least one bow skill per game. In particular, Zielregen in 2 rains exploding arrows on the target(s), and Dart Trap in 4 somehow creates an explosive pitfall under the target with a rain of arrows.

** The Awakening expansion introduces an archer talent called Rain of Arrows that mimics this trope. Scattershot does it less spectacularly but more effectively.

** Both featured and subverted; Chorh-Gom prison has hundreds of ballistae lining the ledges and battlements, each capable of firing ''frickin' enormous, spear-like arrows''...but [[{{Badass}} Tai Lung]] not only uses these to break open his manacles, he's able to toss them right back at the guards, then kick a volley to stab into the rocky walls, providing him with a way to ascend out of the pit.\\
\\
So the RainOfArrows starts off as a cool motif for the good guys, only to be snatched away and showing off the bad guy's CrowningMomentOfAwesome instead.

** High Elves can provide a Rain Of Arrows fire in two ranks, instead of just the front rank. Repeater bolt throwers can fire four large arrows at a time. [[hottip:*:The very quickly removed the high elves ability to fire in multiple ranks after realizing it was a bit good. As of the current edition, everyone can shoot in two ranks while three men per rank can fire with bows past that point. They still aren't particularly effective.]]

-->-- '''Dienekes''', '''''Literature/TheHistories''''', Spartan warrior at the [[OlderThanFeudalism Battle of Thermopylae.]] [[hottip:*:Or Creator/{{Herodotus}} making cool stuff up.]]

* In ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Zhuge Liang uses one of these to replenish his ammunition supplies in the lead up to the battle of Red Cliff [[hottip:*: Yes, the same one as the [[RedCliff one above in the Film section]]]]. With Zhuge's ships hiding in a fog, Cao decides that its too risky to attempt boarding them and instead relies on a hail of arrows to kill anybody who happened to be on deck. Zhuge used mats and straw dummies to collect the arrows. Once he was satisfied with his haul, Zhuge sailed off, only to reuse them in his attack against Cao's army. So famous is this maneuver that the Chinese saying "孔明借箭“ came directly from this. Translated literally, it means "Kong Ming (Zhuge Liang's nickname) borrows arrows."

* In ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' you can get the medieval version, just get enough archers and its a good ol' rain of death.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Uryuu Ishida, after [[ParentExMachina regaining]] his [[CantStayNormal lost power]], becomes capable of firing 1200 arrows at the same time. His name actually does mean "[[MeaningfulName rain dragon]]". When firing this bow, he lives up to that name. Episode 169 is a notable example. Unlike other examples when he uses this, every arrow is going to hit something

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' - Ishida, who after making [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours his kung fu stronger]], is able to release a good [[strike:hundred]] thousand or so arrows with just one pull. Episode 169 is a notable example. Unlike other examples when he uses this, every arrow is going to hit something